Since its unremarkable launch in November, the Zune has failed to capture significant market share in the MP3 player arena. It has managed to hang around, though, partly because competition around it has been stale. With the long-awaited move of digital rights management (DRM)-free music to iTunes, however, Microsoft has fallen even more behind the curve.
Aside from the Microsoft fanatics and the impulsive early adopters, the Zune has failed to make any demographic shout out loud in support of the device. That's highly different from what Apple can say about the iPod, which has hordes of loyal devotees.
"The most important games event of Latin America, gamescom latam, has unveiled the finalists for its flagship award ceremony, the gamescom latam BIG Festival, which celebrates the best in the global market of games." - Gamescom.
Microtransactions have gotten ridiculously overpriced in recent years, with titles now offering cosmetic skins worth more than some games.
The elephant in the room tho is personal accountability. It’s easy (albeit basic) to blame the big, bad corpo, but microtransactions wouldn’t be where they are if gamers didn’t spend money on them. As it stands the MTs usually make more than the game. Publishers know raising game prices will cause backlash, so they do MTs to compensate. But the adult conversation is consumers determine the success of products with their wallets. So if MTs are a huge thing, it’s because we as consumers told them we like them by giving them a lot of money for them. So if you don’t want them to be a thing, convince your fellow gamers to stop buying them and expect that games will be decently more expensive. You all can disagree all you want, but reality is a bitch, and eventually you have to live in it.
Trying to convince people is the least realistic thing. If we are trying to be adults, actual action is what changes things not "convincing campaigns" on platforms owned by the people 'you' are going against. It's madness and idealistic.
Easier said than done. I've told gamers for years to not buy micro transactions, expensive dlc, etc. Gamers bought it anyway. Didn't fit on a DVD that would have fit on a Blu-ray disc.
I also told some gamers to not pay for online like Xbox Live because it would force the rest of the industry to only offer playing online if you pay for it. Told them not to support a broken console that Red Ringed. To not support Xbox One because Microsoft tried to take away game ownership and how you play your games. To not pay for a console by one manufacturer where a, now 3 trillion worth, didn't make enough games at the level of Nintendo or Sony who are worth less money.
How much of that did you support anyway with your money then go back and read your comment again.
There never was, the only time I paid for a microtransaction was on Blacklight Retribution (PS4) and it was because I enjoyed the game a lot so I felt the devs should get something for all that entertainment (€5 "membership")
The devs wouldn’t get that though, that shit goes straight to the higher ups who do f*** all let’s be honest.
Probably, but I wasn't as cynical back then and €5 wasn't a big ask to get the guns with grinding instead of renting them, and the game was good (still is on the PS5/4)
I couldn’t believe what Blizzard charged for horse armor and cosmetics in Diablo 4…
I remember back in the day when a season pass was $15 and you got everything included in it. Now, I see them at $60 and you still don’t get everything.
That's just Blizzard. Unlike Bethesda's $0.99 horse armour, Blizzard's first microtransaction, Sparkle Pony, cost $15.
As soon as gaming wasn't deemed nerdy anymore, and reached the casuals this happened. We're smart, but casuals play mobile games and other stuff, and don't really have anything to compare. They think gaming is supposed to be like this and pay for in game purchases.
Kevin writes: "Multi-GPU gaming was one of those things that seemed like a good idea for as long as it lasted. I mean honestly, the idea of a modular approach to graphics upgrades – be that SLI or CrossFire – was brilliant. I repeat, the idea was brilliant."
Im old school... when i hear the term SLI, I immediately think of 3dfx. I still have a pair of 12mb Monster V2's in an old rig. I never tried out the more modern take on SLI or Crossfire for that matter.
I mean, it was mostly for bragging rights. It was a very temperamental tech that improved with newer iterations, for sure. But folks like myself, who have used it, probably recall that troubleshooting was an integral part of the experience and the value that you got out of the setup was really low.
However, none of that mattered because it looked sick as hell on a well-built PC.
I remember doing my research at the time 😂 I got 2 GTX 460's, as they in SLI were meant to be better than the 480 at the time. Not all games were optimised at the time, which meant some games meant setting them up for 1 card alone. Never forget the time I came home from night shift, turned on my computer like normal, went and made a cuppa, come back and it was still off. Tried to turn on again, and one of the 460's caught fire... good times.
Kind of stupid for anyone to think that a new product; comming from a company without a history of hardware manufacturing, the strong name brand of ipod would just take the market in just a few months.
Yeah, that's what they said about the original xbox and look what the 360 is. One can only imagine how much market share the next xbox will have. I think this product is doing very well compare to other MP3 players. Besides, if one remove all the muble jumble talk and marketting crap to put down the Zune. It kiss the IPod in term of functionality and value any day of the week. Also, it does not have to be 1st if the manage to be 2nd in the industry they will be just fine.
but the wealth of Ipod users is just too much for Microsoft. When people think about MP3 players, the first thing they think of is "Ipod". Hell, my dad is completely incapable of using anything technical, but he knows how to use an Ipod.
Ive got one and i like it a lot. I dont expect Ms to become MP3 king in the near future but i think if they stick with it they're on the right track. The inclusion of firmware updates are what swayed me in favor of getting one bc i didnt wanna have to buy a new mp3 player every time a new feature comes out(ipod). So to answer the question can it survive? Yeah i think so but i think we should ask are self is will it ever be significant competition
The iPod brand is almost synomous with the MP3 market, so why would anyone expect M$ to beat them? The Zune is doing well in its own right....but its definitely a "iPod market" even though IMO opinion there are better, cheaper MP3 players available and I'm not specifically referring to the Zune. M$ doesn't need to "win" or take a significant market share from iPod, whats wrong with just having a good product available for consumers who like what it has to offer, there are many companies/brands that have survived along time without being #1 in any one market they compete in, much less competing in several markets.
I can't imagine a more difficult market to penetrate...the Ipod is a household name now. They used to be Mp3 players, now they're ALL called Ipods...regardless of who made them. If someone asked what a Zune is, I would guess your explanation would be that it's "like an Ipod" and everyone would know what you're talking about.
Of course, if there was any company out there that could compete with Apple it would be MS. They can tie everything into Windows and automatically be in 80% of home computers. They've been able to slowly chip away at the Playstation market share, I don't see why they can't do the same with the Ipod. They certainly have a long road ahead of them though.